Fountain, CO Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)
Key Facts
- Local buffer
- 5 feet from covered entryways
- State default buffer
- 15 feet under Colo. Clean Indoor Act
- Governing law
- Fountain Municipal Code Ch. 9.68
- Adopted
- Ord. No. 1364, 2007
- Scope
- Entryways only, no park or patio ban
Summary
Fountain narrows the Colorado Clean Indoor Act's mandatory outdoor smoking buffer from 15 feet to 5 feet around the entryways of the buildings the state act covers, under Municipal Code Chapter 9.68, Smoking in Entryways. The city has not enacted a broader ban on smoking in parks, on patios or elsewhere outdoors.
The city council finds that the area included within a 15-foot radius from the entryway to a building or facility is an unrealistic limitation on smoking. Such 15-foot prohibition may extend into public parking lots or other public areas and does not provide an area reasonably close to a building or other facility for containers for the disposal of lighted cigarettes, lighted cigars and other smoking products before entering a building or facility. The city council finds that a reduction of the radius from 15 feet to five feet is an appropriate balance between the interests of smokers and nonsmokers. ... It shall be unlawful for any person to smoke in the entryways of all buildings and facilities listed in C.R.S. § 25-14-204(a) to (bb).
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 3).
Full Breakdown
68 was adopted by Ord. No. §§ 25-14-203(7) and 25-14-207(2). Those statutes set a default 15-foot no-smoking radius around the entryway to any covered building or facility, but let a city reduce that radius. 030 fixes at five feet. § 25-14-204(a) through (bb), the same list of covered indoor workplaces, restaurants, bars and public buildings the state act already regulates. The ordinance is a local narrowing of a state buffer distance, not a freestanding city smoking ban; it does not restrict smoking in parks, on restaurant patios, in vehicles, or on other outdoor property, and Fountain's code contains no separate outdoor-smoking chapter beyond this entryway buffer.
Violations & Fines
Chapter 9.68 sets no penalty section of its own, so smoking within five feet of a covered entryway is punished under the Code's general penalty, § 1.12.010: a fine of up to $2,650.00, up to one year in jail, or both, with each violation treated separately under § 1.12.010(C).
Frequently Asked Questions
How close to a building entrance can you smoke in Fountain?
Does Fountain ban smoking in parks or on restaurant patios?
Why did Fountain reduce the smoking buffer to five feet?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Fountain
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Outdoor Smoking Restrictions in Nearby Cities
How other cities in El Paso County handle outdoor smoking restrictions.